A successful 2024 slalom season concluded at an autumnal Lee Valley White Water Centre this weekend (26/27 October), as many of Britain’s best slalom and kayak cross paddlers were in British Open action.
Paris 2024 Olympian Mallory Franklin (Windsor & District) was on the start list for both slalom and kayak cross, while two-time Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist Kimberley Woods (Rugby) lined up solely in the kayak cross.
With slalom kicking off the National Championships on Saturday, it was Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Franklin who took a comprehensive victory in the women’s kayak final to claim the British Open title.
Her clean run was over three seconds ahead of Phoebe Spicer (Lee Valley), while U23 World Champion Lois Leaver took third as the fastest U23 paddler. Zoe Blythe Shields was the quickest of the junior athletes.
A storming run from Jonny Dickson (CR Cats) saw him win the men’s kayak title. He was the only athlete in the final to post under 100 seconds as he concludes another strong year.
Junior paddler Jonah Hanrahan (Independent) claimed fastest junior as he closely followed Dickson in second place. Sam Leaver (Edinburgh Schools) capped off his 2024 season in third place.
U23 athlete Luc Royle (Stafford & Stone) edged out Peter Linksted (Falkirk & Stirling) in the men’s canoe final to claim his first British Open title.
Royle went down clean in 106.05, half a second quicker than the Scot, who was racing for the first time in six months after an injury kept him out of the 2024 season.
James Kettle (Lee Valley) was also returning from a season-long injury. The U23 closely followed Royle and Linksted with a time of 108.57 to finish third overall.
It was too close to call in the women’s canoe final with Franklin going head-to-head with Ellis Miller (Lee Valley).
Just 0.05 seconds separated the duo as Miller took her first national title ahead of Franklin, with the two-time Olympian adding a two-second penalty on gate nine, putting her down in second.
Former U23 World Champion Beth Forrow (Lee Valley) was back racing on the London 2012 course for the first time in over a year, as she finished third, 2.77 seconds behind Miller which included four seconds of penalties.
Sunday saw the turn of the kayak cross, with time-trials kicking things off before athlete entered a semi-finals and a final based on their ranking.
It was Olympic bronze medallist and 2023 World Champion Kimberley Woods who claimed the National title in the kayak cross head-to-heads.
Having stormed the time-trials, Woods won her semi-final to set up an A Final showdown against Mallory Franklin, who had enjoyed her end of the season in the format, taking two World Cup victories.
Lois Leaver and Amber Maslen (Independent) were also in A Final action, but it was Woods who got ahead off the ramp.
Clearing upstream gate 2 unchallenged, she had a clear run to claim another national title in the event.
There were battles amongst the other three however, with Leaver getting ahead to take second place, whilst Maslen pipped Franklin on the final gate to take third spot.
In the men’s A final, Ben Haylett (Holme Pierrepont) got away quickest heading into upstream gate two, but with Sam Leaver and Cody Brown (Lower Wharfe) opting for the same gate, the trio got stuck trying to manoeuvre the upstream.
That allowed Jonah Hanrahan (Independent) to take the lead as he tactically opted to stay out of the trouble.
With Harahan powering ahead unchallenged, he took the National title, whilst Brown took second and Haylett in third, with Leaver initially finishing second but given a fault early on in the final.
You can find all the results from the weekend here
A huge thanks to all the volunteers, officials and Lee Valley Paddlesport Club for organising the event this weekend.